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In buying a car be it new or used, most of us expect many years of reliable, low cost, trouble free motoring. These days it's easy to achieve with today's modern highly developed vehicles.

Provided you begin with a vehicle that's in good condition all you need do is follow your servicing requirements and owners manual. Most cars need servicing, that means changing the engine oil and oil filter every 10,000 kilometers or every six months (whichever comes first). Plus anti-freeze and any general lubing the vehicle may need, and checking of brakes and suspension and tire wear.

Even if your car doesn't do many long trips and high mileage throughout the year it still may need servicing. You might be a person who needs your car to travel to work every day and the journey might only be five minutes. This will mean you car is doing a lot of cold running which can wear on the engine nearly as much as many miles. This is because the engine oil is cold and is not up to the optimum temperature when it best protects the metal parts of your engine.

Therefore when you go to service your car, or if you take your car to a mechanic to do this you should ask them about what oil would be best for your car given the circumstances of its use. Also you should consider what sort of climate you drive in. Such as severe cold or hot weather as this can affect your cars performance.

It's a good idea to search out a reputable and trustworthy mechanic and trust him to do what's best for your car. This will enable you piece of mind that your care will get you there with no trouble. There's nothing worse than breaking down specially in bad weather or late at night and realize the torch in the boot has had flat batteries for the past three years.

The most important thing is that you take care of your car while its going well and replace potentially worn parts or components before they cause others to wear out as well causing bigger problems and expenditure.
It's like your own body. If you look after it, it will last a long time and won't be too expensive either.

Learn more about this author, Andrew Macleod.
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